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Sunday, April 30, 2006
- Standing out from the Herd: Brand Development for Marketing Success
Speakers: Terri Trotter, Walton Arts Center
Neill Roan, The Roan Group
Moderator: Julie Peeler, Americans for the Arts
In reviewing Walton Arts Center’s three-year brand strategy process, participants learn how the Center spent a year locating, developing, and implementing its brand, and then redesigned its organizational structure to optimize keeping the brand promise. Participants will learn about applying various discovery tools including analytics, geo-demographic analysis, quantitative research, and message and design testing. Brand launch strategies will be presented, ranging from staff, volunteer, and board training sessions to media relations planning and execution. Participants learn how the Center benchmarked baselines and developed metrics strategies to evaluate process outcomes. The session concludes with an analysis of outcomes, portraying community relations and organizational performance impacts resulting in a clarified mission focus, increased fund development, aligned communications strategies, and sustained sales growth. - Embracing the Late Buyer: Yield Management and Other Dynamic Pricing Strategies
Speakers: Philippe Ravanas, Columbia College Chicago
Chad Bauman, Virginia Stage Company
David James, North Shore Music Theatre
Moderator: Philippe Ravanas, Columbia College Chicago
Let's face it: market pressure on subscriptions and the increase of last-minute buyers are here to stay. These trends are deeply rooted in the evolution of consumption patterns, life style, and technology. At the same time, marketing single tickets over the Internet is faster and cheaper than ever before. Is it time to look beyond subscriptions and invent a new paradigm? Should we price like the airlines, setting price according to predicted demand levels and to each customer's price sensitivity? In the 2004–2005 season, Virginia Stage Company (VSC) was only selling 25 percent of its capacity during preview performances. After much research, VSC launched the Best Ticket in Town program in midseason, which lowered some ticket prices to less than a movie ticket. Hear too how North Shore Music Theatre tested a variety of pricing structures. This session will explore the impact of the internet revolution on pricing strategies, the concepts of dynamic pricing and yield management, and their applications to our field. - What good are you? Communicating Value in Today's Marketplace
Speaker: Alan Brown, Alan S. Brown & Associates LLC
Moderator: Gerald Yoshitomi, MeaningMatters
As arts marketers gain sophistication and experience selling the intangibles of arts experiences, we need better language and a solid framework for talking about value. How are people bettered in some way from doing different kinds of arts activities? What is the value system surrounding the arts? Alan Brown will present a framework for understanding value creation, drawing on new research including the RAND Corporation’s Gifts of the Muse report commissioned by The Wallace Foundation. Following the presentation, Jerry Yoshitomi will moderate a discussion about how marketing directors and their colleagues might use the framework to better articulate the value of their current and future programs.
- Making a (New) Statement: Re-Branding your Organization with Limited Dollars
Speakers: Nancy Hytone Leb, Arts Management Consultant, Pasadena, CA
Trevor O’Donnell, Trevor O’Donnell & Co., Los Angeles;
Camille Ameen, Inside Out Community Arts, Venice, CA
Moderator: Nancy Hytone Leb, Arts Management Consultant, Pasadena, CA
Managing effective brands means embracing change. This session will examine three approaches to managing changing brands for maximum results. Session participants will come away with useful tools for evaluating the strength of their existing brands, and for making smart, appropriate, cost-effective changes on nearly any budget. Drawing on his experiences on Broadway and in non-profit performing arts, Trevor O’Donnell will offer tips for waking up tired brands, and for responding to 20th century audiences who want to know, “what’s in it for me?” Nancy Hytone Leb will describe her successful experience with Playhouse West in Walnut Creek, CA, where a move from a 49-seat theater to a 110-seat space called for reevaluating the organization’s “start-up” brand. As an Arts community service organization, Inside Out’s donors are not the same as those receiving their services. Learn about their challenges of growth and re-branding on a shoe-string budget and the tools and resources available. Learn how to determine the right solution for your sleepy institutional image. Whether you need to invest in a new brand, or cash in on an established brand, this session is for you. - Getting Engaged: Applied Methods in Values-Based Research
Speakers: Darcy Minter, Western Folklife Center
Kimberly Hines, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey
Margaret Keough, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Dawn Taylor Biegelsen, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Moderator: Surale Phillips, Decision Support Partners, Inc.
This panel will share new methodologies in values-based audience research. The Western Folklife Center and representatives of the Kansas City Audience Development Initiative are employing innovative tools to translate anecdotal information about audience experience, values, and identity into practical applications. The results provide a foundation on which to build communication, marketing, and development strategies aimed at deepening the arts experience and building a more engaged, connected audience. Moderator Surale Phillips will ensure participation from session audience members who will acquire new tools to evaluate the intrinsic value of their work and apply the results. - You Don't Have to Give it Away: Incentive Marketing Strategies in the Arts
Speakers: John Copeland, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
J. Dennis Rich, Columbia College
Moderator: John Copeland, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
Sales promotions like coupons, contests, and discounts can be successful audience builders if used correctly. But too many organizations give away their product to the wrong audience. This session will cover the various sales promotion options available, how they work in the arts, and when it’s appropriate to use them. It will also cover when to use incentives in audience building, and when not to.
- Get on Your Hard Hat: New Tools in Data Mining
Speakers: Catherine Carter, Performing Arts Center Authority, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Bill Gowan, Texas Arts Marketing Network, Dallas
Stuart Nicolle, Purple Seven Ltd., London
Gretchen Shugart TheaterMania.com, Inc., New York
Moderator: Catherine Carter, Performing Arts Center Authority, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
The information required to issue a ticket can be an invaluable marketing tool—used to understand loyalty, preferences, and demand. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts tested its ability to use guest information to develop future marketing campaigns. The results have been staggering—sales grew 15 percent with 25 percent less marketing spending. This session will discuss the philosophical shift that led the Broward Center down this path as well as the practical issues involved in replicating this and other approaches, including identifying data sources, creating analytical tools, and building a marketing campaign that leverages these findings. We’ll also examine how innovative software and research techniques are working in the U.K. today, focusing on a case study at the Derby Playhouse Theatre in Derby, Midlands, U.K. We’ll look at how they did their research, what they found, and how they more than doubled response rates to their marketing mailings almost overnight. - Training the Trainers: Developing an Arts-Based Corporate Training Program
Speaker: Harvey Seifter, Americans for the Arts
Moderator: Gary Steuer, Americans for the Arts
This intensive workshop session will be a hands-on clinic for artists and arts organizations that are currently running arts-based corporate training programs or seriously thinking of becoming active in this dynamic and rapidly growing market. We will share product and marketing advice, and offer practical solutions that will help develop programs, achieve revenue objectives, and meet competitive challenges. Learn about current trends, best practices, and the latest research on the effectiveness of creativity training!
Monday, May 1, 2006
- Activating the Activators: Emerging Practices in Peer-to-Peer Marketing (Part 1)
Speakers: Eric Haeker, Arts In Motion
Meredith Towers, Long Wharf Theatre
Moderator: Alan Brown, Alan S. Brown & Associates LLC
This pair of sessions brings together a variety of new practices around Peer-to-Peer (P2P) marketing, a cost-effective sales paradigm that leverages social context to stimulate attendance in small social groups. The first session establishes a framework for P2P marketing of cultural events, defines terms, and provides illustrations of P2P marketing practices in other industries. Several new P2P pilot projects will be discussed, including an “activator network” marketing model designed for a presenting series, and a “play groups” program for “initiators” who like to organize cultural outings for their friends and fellow theater-goers. - Research in Action! Converting Research Findings to Real Accomplishments
Speakers: Tom Kaiden, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; Beth Pessen, Pessen Strategic Research; Grace Rapkin, Jewish Museum of New York; Deborah Rossi, University of Florida Performing Arts
Seems everybody and their grandmother is doing research on arts audience behavior lately, and that doesn’t count the research being done by arts groups on their own audiences. But how do you turn those mounds of research into actionable, successful marketing plans? Join our speakers as they show you how focus groups contributed to the development of a museum exhibition, as well as to the marketing of it at a culturally specific museum. Then see how audience surveys are helping a presenting organization buy media and write copy. Finally, see how a room full of marketers in Philadelphia are trying to make sense out of some recent high-profile audience research findings. - E-mail Marketing Idea-a-Thon
Moderators: Eugene Carr, Patron Technology
Julie Peeler, Americans for the Arts
Now that e-mail marketing is an important part of the savvy arts marketer’s bag of tricks, this session is designed to help you perfect your technique! First you’ll hear some results from a nationwide study of arts patrons’ e-mail behavior, completed just a month ago. Then we’ll have a guided discussion in which we’ll solicit your success stories and tips and hear what hasn’t worked as well. The panel for this session will bring along their own experiences to help get us started. You’ll leave this session having a much better understanding of what others are doing, and some tangible learning about industry best practices.
- Blogging and Buzzing and Podcasts, Oh My! Emerging Practices in Peer-to-Peer Marketing (Part 2)
Speakers: Sara Billmann, University Musical Society
Rich Rojo, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Rebecca McBride, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Moderator: Alan Brown, Alan S. Brown & Associates LLC
This second session exploring Peer-to-Peer marketing will be packed with examples of word of mouth tools that can be used to implement P2P marketing strategies, including consumer-initiated and presenter-initiated tools. Leading marketers in the field will share their experiences with podcasting, blogging, buzzing, online invitation software, reminder services, and other easy-to-implement technologies that support P2P—the new frontier of arts marketing. - Marketing to Kids in Red States and Blue—Learn to Market to Families in any Climate!
Speakers: Philippe Ravanas, Columbia College Chicago
Alison De La Cruz, FilAm ARTS
Tomi Douglas, Oregon Children’s Theatre
Lesley Gwynn, Lexington Children’s Theatre
Moderator: Philippe Ravanas, Columbia College Chicago
Are you a newbie to marketing to today’s families and kids or just want a refresher? This FUNdamental session will provide you with a wide range of ideas and techniques for marketing in any family climate—from uber conservative to ultra progressive. Learn what kids and families from different parts of the country value and how to best reach your local nuclear and nontraditional families through proven techniques, case studies, and approaches to target whatever family market you encounter. Plus we will teach you concrete ways to dissect those audience pools and find affordable strategies to cultivate youth audiences and families with young children. - More is Less: Simplifying the Purchase Decision with Dynamic Packaging
Speakers: Lise Bohn, Stages Repertory Theatre
Trevor O’Donnell, Trevor O’Donnell & Co.
Moderator: Alice Sachs Zimet, Arts + Business Partnerships
Arts consumers are increasingly on the lookout for leisure activity that includes multiple components in convenient, affordable packages. Even if your product is the primary draw, the decision to participate may rest on the value and appeal of the dining, shopping, transportation, parking, and related entertainment that comes with it. Selling packages means selling a destination and that often calls for creative partnerships with area businesses. At the same time, many arts organizations are looking for alternatives to traditional subscription or membership packaging and presentation. As we struggle to preserve the subscription model (or at least guaranteed revenue and attendance!), many groups have increased the range of subscriptions offered—to the point of consumer overload. See how Stages Theatre decided to go with one price/two options, causing their subscriptions to climb dramatically. Trevor O’Donnell will discuss how theater marketers on Broadway and in major tour markets have been teaming up with strategic partners to create and sell package products.
- Donde estan los latinos? Marketing to the Latino Community
Moderator: Linda Chiavaroli, L.A. County Arts Commission
Speakers: Dave Pier, John Anson Ford Theatres; Brendan Glynn, Broward Center for the Performing Arts; Donna Williams Sutton, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Developing diverse audiences remains a vital goal for the arts. Latin American residents are growing in numbers and importance in many locations nationwide, from urban areas to rural towns. Reaching these community members is important not only to the arts, but also to our partners in education, government, and business. Learn about steps—and missteps—in building relationships with Latino artists, producers, community representatives, and media; developing print and electronic promotions with Latinos in mind; programming to attract Latinos; communicating with patrons whose primary language is Spanish; and documenting participation. Many issues discussed have broader implications for connecting with other segments of the community. - Playing Nice with the "Competition": Innovative Collaborations on a Shoestring
Speakers: Stacy Lieberman, Skirball Cultural Center
Stacey Ravel Abarbanel, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
Chad Bauman, Virginia Stage Company
Colleen Fischer, Fresh Arts Coalition
Moderator: Julie Peeler, Americans for the Arts
What does a theater have in common with a zoo? A botanical garden? Or an art museum? Grow your audience and target those who don't normally attend by reaching beyond your demographic through innovative collaborations while maximizing your marketing dollars. First see how three large-scale collaborations between the Virginia Stage Company and the Downtown Norfolk Council, Norfolk Botanical Gardens, and the Chrysler Museum of Art allowed Virginia Stage Company to increase its return on investment by leveraging media buys and coverage through collaborations with other large nonprofits. Then see how the Museum Marketing Roundtable, an informal group of more than 20 marketing directors at Los Angeles and Orange County museums, led to creative and successful examples of how institutions large and small—with no budgets to big budgets—can pool their resources to draw more attention and more visitors than they could on their own. Topics include developing a joint website, hosting a citywide free day, and securing key meetings with arts editors/writers—and tips for implementing these collaborative campaigns efficiently and cost effectively in various cities and across arts disciplines. Fresh Arts Coalition (FAC) came together when several of the midsized arts organizations in Houston wanted a group that they could become vested in that would market and work for a collective arts awareness in the Houston community. FAC generates ads that promote its two dozen members as well as works on developing networking, community awareness, and media junket types of events for its members. - Stopping the Revolving Door: Keeping the First-Time Buyer
Speakers: Andrew Edmonson, Houston Ballet
Jill Robinson, Target Resource Group
Holly J. Kellar, Artsmarketing Services Inc.
Moderator: Susan Koblin Schear, ARTISIN, LLC
This session will focus on first-time customer retention strategies that Houston Ballet implemented in 2005, focusing on two lead segments: single ticket buyers to its regular subscription season and Nutcracker single ticket buyers. This case study will highlight ways in which Houston Ballet successfully increased single ticket revenues; attracted first-time customers who had previously attended popular, wide-appeal works to return for more sophisticated programming; and increased its subscription conversion rates and subscription revenues in the process. Both direct mail and e-mail marketing strategies of a variety of arts organizations will be discussed, with results presented for each. The turn-key strategies discussed in this presentation are meant to be easy for other arts organizations in other disciplines to implement.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
- Show 'Em Who's Boss: Leading with Limited Authority
Speaker: Gerald Yoshitomi, MeaningMatters
Moderator: Alan Brown, Alan S. Brown & Associates LLC
Many marketing directors have the knowledge they need to increase audiences and earned income, yet others "above" them in the organization don't listen so the knowledge doesn't get put to use. Traditions and old ways of operating often prevent us from moving marketing dollars to methods that we know would be more successful. Yet we're criticized when we don't meet revenue goals. Sound familiar? We'll discuss barriers to leading from the middle and methods to overcome those barriers and convince our bosses and peers. We'll draw from key concepts in Useem's "Leading up: How to Lead Your Boss so You Both Win" (helping superiors lead), Heifetz's "Leadership Without Easy Answers" and Yoshitomi's "Is Knowledge in the Right Places." After this highly interactive session, you'll leave with your own short action plan on leading with limited authority back home. - Remixing the Marketing Mix: Re-Thinking Direct Mail, Print, and Other Media
Speakers: Brian Jose, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
Lex Poppens, Ruth Eckerd Hall
Jim Royce, Center Theatre Group
Susan Loh, National Arts Council, Singapore
With all the focus on new technology, is print really dead or does it just need a face lift? Join this panel of top arts marketers who still use print and hear when, and why, they rely of this medium to reach and retain audiences. When do some of the old ways of communicating with printed pieces in the mail, or hung as posters, or ads in newspapers, still work? What’s the best mix of media for your audience make up? Arts organizations that still use print are finding they need to use new targeting techniques and new techniques in placement and must update how the content and creative are developed. Finally, they’re using new ways to the impact of a mix of both electronic and old fashioned print media in retaining current audiences and reaching new ones.
